The recent attack on Abigail Witchalls, stabbed in the neck while walking her son in a buggy, has caused reactions of outrage and sympathy across the country.

As politicians attempted to focus our attention with talk about immigration and tax, it was the tragic announcement from Abigail's father that the 26-year-old teacher was likely to be paralysed for the rest of her life that captured both hearts and minds.

Closer to home in the North-East, the stabbing of a young boy in Middlesbrough on Saturday seemed to be yet another example of the rising tide of violence which on occasions threatens to overwhelm.

It's remarkable that, in the midst of such violence, two surveys have been published claiming that the amount of violent crime in society is actually falling.

Research from Cardiff University published on Monday suggested injuries from violent crime had dropped by 13 per cent over the past four years, while last week the British Crime Survey (BCS) claimed that violent crime as a whole had dropped by 11 per cent.

It must be the coldest of comforts to tell someone who has just been mugged that the chance of being the victim of a violent crime is, statistically speaking, quite small.

According to the BCS, the risk of being a victim in 2003 was just 4.1 per cent. Such statistics don't seem to tally with the fears of many, especially the elderly, for whom it is the fear of crime, and being a victim of violent crime, that creates a siege mentality and robs them of peace of mind.

Some politicians can be guilty of doing the same thing. Playing on those very real fears about violent crime might win votes but the cost is living with a mentality that cripples the confidence of the most vulnerable, and preys upon the worries that see a criminal in every stranger and a thug in every teenager.

The serial political offender of playing on people's fears is the British National Party, whose policies on law and order have a lunacy unmatched by their political rivals. In a salute to Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, the BNP say they would allow householders to own attack rifles and machine guns which could be used on anyone who entered your property illegally. Every citizen will be granted a licence to kill whenever they buy a gun to use on would be burglars.

At the other extreme is the Liberal Democrats. No-one could accuse Charles Kennedy of playing on people's fears or pandering to opportunism. However his party's policy - omitted from their election manifesto - giving every prisoner the right to vote is a slap in the face for all victims of crime. While many would agree that rehabilitation and education for prisoners is essential, the lunacy of giving the vote to those serving time is a policy disaster. If prison means punishment, then that must mean at the very least losing the right to have a say in society for the duration of your term.

If the Liberal Democrats are to succeed in their ambitions to become the official opposition, they need to make a bonfire of those policies which keep people from taking them seriously. It doesn't take a political genius to figure that the first policy they should take a match to is this one.

* Arun Arora is President of Cranmer Hall at the University of Durham.